Commercial and residential buildings are exposed to the elements during the course of their use. The effects of environmental conditions such as wind, heat and cold, solar rays, shifting earth, pests, and various forms of precipitation such as rain, sleet, snow, hail, and humidity all contribute to the deterioration of buildings over time. A building component or system such as the roofing shingles or the foundation of a residential home is installed to maintain integrity against certain environmental elements such as rain water or heat/cold. However, over the course of the component's installed life, exposure to various environmental conditions can cause the component to deteriorate and begin to fail.
For example, roofing shingles of a conventional residential home help keep rain water from getting into the home. However, a hail storm event, for example, may cause some shingles to break or otherwise compromise the integrity of the roofing system, leading to recurring water leaks in the attic or upper level(s) of the building. In many cases, these leaks may not be immediately evident, as some homeowners may not frequent their attics, or may not otherwise regularly inspect their home's systems. As such, these system integrity failures may go undetected for weeks, months, or years until evidence presents itself more apparently to the homeowner. This delay in promptly detecting such building system failures may lead to additional damage to the building. For example, one eventual visual indicator for an undetected roof leak may be a resulting dark spot or stain of dampness and/or mold growth on the ceiling of an interior roof where the leak dripped over the course of many rains.
This additional or ancillary damage created by the undetected compromise may cause building owners to have to spend significantly more to repair the building, as they pay to fix not only the underlying system failure (e.g., the leaky roof) but also the damage caused by not promptly detecting the failure (e.g., the mold growth in an attic and the staining on the interior ceiling). As such, early detection of faults or compromises in various building systems may be desirable.